


The Wraith in the Ruins

by The_Lonely_Light



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Hunter Jesse McCree, Jesse dies but he's okay, M/M, Overwatch - Freeform, Seduction, Wraith Reaper | Gabriel Reyes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:54:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27315832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Lonely_Light/pseuds/The_Lonely_Light
Summary: They all knew the stories, of the Wraith in the Ruins. The Rangers had been making trips up to those ruins for years to prove their fearlessness to others, but now it's Jesses' turn. He wasn't afraid of a made-up ghost story used to scare children, he's fought real monsters. The Wraith isn't real.
Relationships: Jesse McCree/Reaper | Gabriel Reyes
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	The Wraith in the Ruins

It was raining hard. The water seeped through his leathers and somehow got down to his underclothes. He was thankful he got back to Defiance before the storm fully started. He pushed the large wooden double doors open and was greeted with loud chatter, candlelight, and the sound of clinking mugs. It's the feeling of what had been his home, his station, for many years. He shook out his copper brown hair, sending droplets to the wood planks below his boots. He wasn't gone long but being home was always great.

"Back from hunting already!" The loud heavy german accent bellowed through the great hall. He was standing on top of the long table. Jesse was surprised the wood could hold his weight. The rest of the guild turned to see who the tank of a man was talking to. Some were shocked to see the soaking wet Ranger back so soon. Others knew the young man too well to be even surprised. 

"It was one rabid dog. Not much of a hunt to be fair." Jesse called back before closing the doors behind him.

"Were's are rough." Reinhardt laughed and stepped down from the table with a thud. "Got any new scars kid?"

"Ya' know I'm too good for that Reinhardt." Jesse laughed as he walked past the giant to the bar.

"It's that damn gun of yours." he shook his head. "If you used real weapons like the rest of us, maybe a sword or ax-"

"She is a real weapon." Jesse laughed as he asked the barkeep for a drink. "And I rather not have to get new clothes every time I go hunting."

"HaHa that is true!" Rein barked out and threw back the rest of his drink. "Blood never comes out."

Jesse shook his head and took another drink. 

"You did come back fast, McCree. We might as well give you another hunt." The dark-haired woman's soft, smooth voice spoke as she walked by the two laughing at each other. She looked tired. He could tell from the dark blue bags under her eyes. They had been getting worse as the years went by.

Jesse was surprised to see her. She had been hunting a pack of vamps for a month. She must have just gotten back within the past two days he’d been gone.

"If ya' want. I could use the gold." Jesse leaned back in his seat. Rein bite down a laugh next to him.

"Gold for what, kid?" Rein elbowed Jesses' side with a look. Jesse never really did anything for the money, and he didn't need it with Ana and Rein always looking after him. Both of them had provided for him when he arrived at Defiance.

"Okay fine, I just want to hunt." He shrugged. "Is that a problem? You guys finally let me hunt alone and the werewolf guy was a fucking joke and I was looking forward to an actual hunt." Jesse sighed, "I've been training too long to get these easy kills." Jesse rested his head in his palm. "Ya' guys aren't babying me, right?" Jesse shot the pair a suspicious glance. They both looked a little guilty.

"How about this! I got a hunt for you! A good one." Rein slurred as Ana opened her mouth to reassure McCree. She crossed her arms, shooting the big guy a look to stop before he said something foolish.

"No you dont." She answered, trying to shut the man down.

"Hey, the kid is old enough to try, like we all did." Rein pushed off of the bartop with a bit of a wobble.

Jesse looked between the two with a raised eyebrow. What the hell are they talking about? "Ahem, Can I ask what this hunt is?" He asked, interrupting the twos staring contest. Ana bit her lip like she did when she was hiding something. Jesse was too used to that look.

"Fine, tell him." Ana raised her hands in defeat, making Rein grin brightly.

"The Wraith of the Watcher ruins!" Rein hollered as people grew closer to hear the commotion. Jesse had listened to that story many times. The Wraith of the watcher ruins a ghost like creature that survived by consuming the souls of the living. Even just looking at the horribly terrifying ghost frightened people to death turning their hair completely white, or so the story says. Ana used to scare him about the wraith when he first showed up at Defiance. "If you walk by the ruins you can hear the whispers, many are too fearful to even venture close to the fallen stones let alone the woods there are in. But many of us have stepped onto those ruins and heard nothing but the wind."

"You what? You guys actually went there?" Jesse looked around, and the ones much older than him gave a short nod. Rein puffed out his chest with pride when Jesse looked utterly confused.

"Most of us with a gut have given it a try. It's nothing but a trick of the wind through stones scaring people away from those old dusty ruins."

Jesse sighed and went back to his mug. "It's not much of a hunt than if it's just the wind." 

"That's not the point McCree, it's a test. We know you're good at the normal hunt. But what about something you can't see or shoot?"

"The fuckin’ wind?"

Ana took a seat next to McCree with a seldom face. "No he means fear." 

Jesse looked down at the table in front of him. If the others were able to do it… he could do it. Jess turned around in his seat to see the rest of the guild and Rein looking at him for an answer. Like he would say no with all this peer pressure, damned rangers.

"Yeah, alright I'll go. I'll give it a shot."

"That a boy!" Rein cheered and offered the rest of the rangers a drink on him. Jesse nursed his drink and kept thinking back to those stories he heard ever since he was a kid. If they all did it, Jesse could too. It's just a made-up ghost story anyhow, ghosts aren't real. Real monsters were not enough to scare kids anymore. Parents had to make up the ghost to scare them into doing their daily tasks. He could do it. He would do it.

"Jesse." He was shaken from his thoughts as he heard the soft accent. Jesse looked over at Ana, his leader, mother figure, looking at him with a pinched brow. She was worried.

"What's wrong?"

"Don't let your pride get to you, don't go in those ruins." she whispered under breath, making sure none of the drunk men heard her.

"What the hell are you talking about? Everyone else has done it?" Jesse asked.

"just please Jess, dont." She placed a hand on McCree's shoulder and looked him in the eyes.

"It's okay Ana, I'll be fine, trust me." Jesse gave the hand on his shoulder a pat and got up. He felt her eyes follow him out of the great hall. Ana had always been protective of him; he wasn't sure what got into her. Anyways regardless, he had to go pack. He was leaving first thing tomorrow.

________________

The fog licked and curled around Jesse's boots as he breached the heavy tree line. It was like the whole world flipped on its head. Before he entered, it was a bright clear day, but in there, very little light shone down to the forest floor, and fog enveloped everything in sight. It cast everything in view into a gray haze.

Jesse stepped back out of the woods into the warm, comforting, yellow meadow before it. "Jesus," He swore, trying to steal his nerves to go back into those woods. A soft neigh came from behind him, and he turned to give Jezebel a reassuring smile. "I'll be alright girly." He smoothed down her mane and patted her back, trying to show he was as calm as always. He was just uncomfortable with how claustrophobic it was in those trees. How woods could be claustrophobic, he didn't know. They just were.

"They all said it's just fear and the wind, ya' know I'll be alright." He grinned and walked to Jezebel's side to unload his gear. When he finished checking everything he needed over, he let himself have one final sigh. He came back around to her front and leaned his head against her brown neck. "I'll be back." he hummed with closed eyes, then stepped away.

He placed his gun in his holster and stood in front of the tree line. He finally steeled his nerves with a nod and walked right past the dense tree line once again. He fucking hated how the air felt against his skin. It made his hair stand up.

Jesse surveyed the area as much as he could, hugging the tree line so he wouldn't get lost. Rein told him to follow the dead grass and trees. Jesse set his jaw when he finally found a batch of dead grass. "Here we go," Jesse whispered and walked forward, leaving the comfort of the treeline behind.

Jesse followed the dead grass and trees for a while. It didn't take him long to realize that he hadn't heard any birds or seen any animals the whole time he's been in the woods. The pit in Jess's stomach grew. There had to be something wrong with these woods. From what Jesse recalled from his studies, many signs pointed to a witches' curse on these woods. Why would a witch curse these woods, he didn't know, but maybe that's why people created the wraith story, because of some witches curse. Jesse admitted he was just trying to reason his way out of believing the rumors.

Jesse felt like he had been walking forever, and the little light that came from the sun had disappeared, covering the woods in dark shadow. Jesse fished through his bag and found a candle to light. The light didn't do much to pierce the darkness, but it helped Jesse follow the path.

...What are you looking for?

A whisper carried itself on the wind to Jesse's ears. It was a low, raspy voice. It reminded Jesse of someone trying to speak after not talking for a long time. Jesse turned around, looking for where the sound could have come from. He then felt a gust of wind blow against his back pushing him forward.

"Just the wind." Jesse hummed and turned back around and followed the path of death in front of him. He froze when it felt like something sharp was tracing against his back.

Jesse whipped around violently, looking around. That felt real. Jesse couldn't explain that away. It couldn't have been the cold… it felt sharp like a claw. Jesse took a few steps backward, raising his light to see if it was a tree branch.

"Damn it!" Jesse cursed as he fell backward, tripping over a tree root, he assumed. He swore a few more times as he rubbed his now sore butt. "Wait?" Jesse looked down. He landed on something hard. A Stone floor?

Jesse got up onto his feet. He stepped forward, and his boot heels clicked against the stone beneath them. The ruins. He held the light up and saw before into the darkness the massive ruins of Watchpoint. It looked to be an old fortress. It looked just like how the stories described it. He stopped, Ana warned him not to go in...

Jesse heard a soft voice in his mind encouraging him to enter the massive fortress. Jesse gave his cheek a slap. "You're just hearing things, Jesse. Focus." He ordered himself, trying to shake the feeling something is going on that he can't explain. He just needed to go in, and he could say he had done it and go back to Defiance but he's not gonna pussy out now. Sorry Ana, he thought. Pride was always a sin for McCree. Even when he was a teenager abandoned on the street he gave Ana a hard time.

Jesse frowned at the memory he didn't like to think about the past, the here and now is where he was, in a god damn cursed forest in front of old ruins.

Jesse followed the stone path, leading up to massive wooden doors that hung open and creaked with the wind. Jesse held up his light and pushed the door open enough to get inside. He stopped there in the doorway, taking in ruins around him. The roof was collapsed and stone laid everywhere in disarray. God knew how old the place was. No wonder people made-up tales about such a place. Jesse felt like he was intruding on sacred ground. It was beautiful in some way that Jesse couldn't put words too. Suddenly the air started to feel thick 

“Welcome…”

"Wha-" Jesse jumped as he heard a rough voice behind him. He turned around and was face to face with a black mass, then his candle was blown out, followed by a brassy chuckle. He pulled his gun fired in front of him, lighting the space in front of him for a split second.

Jesse swallowed deeply when he saw a man grinning, the shot went right through him, and black tendrils of smoke seeped from where the bullet hole was. Then the black enveloped everything again. Jesse was panicking, nothing was supposed to be in here, the men all said it was the wind, did Ana know?! He cocked his gun again ready to fire at any noise.

"Impressive. What a brave boy you are." a laugh echoed off stone.

Bang he shot again into the dark. "What the hell are you!" Jesse shouted, looking around in the darkness again for any sign of movement.

"If you found your way here, I'm sure you already know that answer."

"You cant be! Wraiths aren't real, that's just a ghost story. You are some kind of ghoul.” Jesse tried to reason. “Come out of the dark!"

"You don't believe in what you can't kill." The voice sounded offended. Jesse raised an eyebrow. “You rangers and hunters dread a good ghost story.”

"You can't be the Wraith,” Jesse stepped closer to where the voice was coming from. “I was told this place has been empty for years."

"Let me guess, your hunter pals told you that." the ghost laughed.

"What does that have to do-"

"No one has made it past those doors in decades." The voice hummed. “I would know.”

Jesse lowered his gun. They lied? Did they just want to scare him? Footsteps sounded in front of him, and Jesse fired his weapon again. The steps kept coming closer until the figure was right in front of Jesse looming over him.

"You're the first soul that has entered my domain in a very long time.” There was a pause and Jesse felt a hand press against his chest. “And what a lovely soul it is." He whispered.

Jesse's eyes still were trying to adjust to the dark, and all he could see was the red eyes glaring into his own brown ones. Jesse places his gun right where the figure's heart should be and fires again, the hand didn't leave his chest nor did he stumble backwards. The figure just scoffed and shook his shilotted head. Then McCrees gun was pulled from his trembling hands.

"I would prefer it if you stopped doing that kid." He tossed the gun to the side, causing it to echo in the grand entrance. Jesse tried not to look at the figure as his eyes were now adjusted to the dark. If he saw it, it would be real and maybe he didn't want to see the creature who was about to kill him. Didn't want to see what horrors it appeared to be like in the stories.

Keeping his head down he moved to step towards his gun, but something wrapped around him and held him in place. It slithered up his legs and round his arms pinning them to his side, it was thick yet airy like tendrils of smog. Yet they were very solid when holding him in place. Jesse's stomach was starting to flip, is this how death was gonna get him. At the ripe age of 20, devoured by a story book tale. Would anybody believe how he died, would they come for his body? Jesse was only thinking about death.

“What brought you here?” The ghost asked.

“...” Jesse refused to respond, he wasn’t going to entertain his soon to be killer. This made the wraith tilt his head curiously.

"Fine, what's your name?" The wraith placed a clawed finger under Jesse's jaw, forcing him to look up at the creature's face. He swallowed when he met the man's face. 

The figure, spirit, ghost, he didn't know. He looked mostly human, but his skin was tinted gray, and his eyes were a deep blood red. His long dark hair was peppered with gray and floated around him like he was swimming in water. He was beautiful, unlike any man or woman Jesse had ever seen. Everything about him was mesmerizing. 

The wraith looked into his eyes for a long moment like he was trying to read something, he bit his lip and looked away from Jesse.

Yet, Jesse couldn't pull his eyes away from the wraith. He wanted to watch every movement. Was this his power? Was he under a spell? When Jesse didn't answer the question for a while, the Wraith grinned knowingly. Jesse hated that little grin, like he knew exactly what he was thinking. Jesse started to struggle against the tendrils that held him in place, making the godly figure grin.

“Maybe I’ll keep you around.” The wraith chuckled, while rubbing at his goatee with a mischievous look.

“Fuck you.” Jesse hissed.

"Ha, calm down,” His deep voice echoed in Jesse's ears. “What's your name kid? I’m not asking again." He hummed smoothly, as he cupped Jesse's chin, rubbing his clawed thumb over the corner of Jesse's mouth. Was the claw a threat? Possibly, but it still made Jesse shiver.

“...It’s Jesse”

“And your last name?”

“McCree.”

“Hmm.”

“What?”

“You are just curious” He hummed then refocused “Jesse McCree, Thank you.” The wraith smiled, the most perfect smile, and took a step back scratching a thin red line down Jesse’s chin. Jesse squirmed under the blood red eyes looking at him intently as they moved back. 

“Thanks for what?” He was honestly curious. 

“For this.” The wraith placed a clawed hand back on Jesse's exposed chest, then pressure, intense, heavier than anything he had ever felt before. He looked down as he yelled in pain he felt his legs give out.

“Shh” The wraith shushed as it ran a hand through Jesse's hair. The other clawed hand had disappeared into his chest and wrapped around something. The pressure was too much Jesse felt like he was going to pass out. Something though was compelling him to stop screaming. His body went lax and he rested his head against the wraith's solid chest. Then the pressure stopped. 

He opened his eyes as the hand was pulled out of him, Jesse expected to see gushing blood but nothing came just light, so much light. 

Jesse squinted as the space around them lit up brighter than any lamp or torch hed ever seen. When his eyes finally adjusted to the light he could see the wraith held onto an orb of light that slowly turned from white to blood-red in his hands. Jesse tried to keep his eyes open but darkness soon overtook.


End file.
